The man in the moon
by Linger1536
Summary: Based on the movie The man in the moon (1991) with Reese Witherspoon. It is set in the 21st century three years after the movie ended, Court did not die. "You heard me. Turn around." He smirked at her words before turning around slowly, the water splashing at his movements. "Bathing suit too small?" Dani/Court


**This is an AU version of the movie The man in the moon. It will be based in present time and their appearances and some of their characteristic might not be the same. The age difference will be the same but some names might have been changed.**

"_Dani … how would you feel about Court and I?"_

"_I love her Dani."_

"_You're just a kid."_

"_Maybe if you were just a bit older."_

"_Why can't you be happy for us?"_

Dani scoffed as she pushed some of her golden brown hair away from her eyes. This was she had to look forward to; them together, making lovey-dovey eyes at each other. She would rather have spent the summer with her friends as she'd planned, but then her mom had intervened. She had demanded that Dani would come home for the summer, claiming that they never saw her ever since she began boarding school. Dani had refrained from retorting that it was the point with boarding school. She had managed to avoid coming home the previous two summer's, only popping in a few days during other holidays where she successfully avoided _him._

"Mom's really excited to see you … Dani, did you hear me?"

Dani let her gaze wander from the flashing trees to her sister. "Yes, Maureen I heard you."

Maureen glanced at her before returning her eyes to the road. "Aren't you excited to be back?"

Dani rolled her eyes before replying; "Stoked."

Her sister's hands fidgeted on the wheel as they neared the house and when they pulled up to the driveway Dani understood why. Gathered on the lawn beside the house was a large group of people, all of them smiling and laughing. Her dad was at the grill serving burgers to eager children. She could see her three year old sister Lily dashing around peoples legs giggling as a boy chased after her.

"They didn't," whispered Dani, her green eyes widening.

Maureen gave her a nervous smile. "Welcome home." She was out of the car within seconds, darting to the mass of people, probably to avoid dealing with Dani's anger.

Dani muttered angrily under her breath as she stepped out of the car.

"Daniiiiiii!" shirked Lily as she tore away from the mass of people and flung herself at her older sister.

Dani let out a surprised sound but smiled nevertheless as she caught her sister. "Hi, Lils. How are you?"

Lily pulled away from Dani and stared up at her. "Good," she beamed. "I like your hair," she said before letting go and scurrying away.

"Dani!" Abigail threw her arms around her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Welcome home, sweetheart." She pulled away to get a better look at her daughter and when her eyes settled on her hair she sighed. "What have you done to your hair?"

Dani fingered the tips of her hair, staring at the purple strands. "It's called dip dye."

Her mother muttered something about rebellious teenagers before dragging her along to introduce her to everyone who was there.

It was a long afternoon she had been reintroduced to several of the people there and had had to answer their curious questions about school and her life in New York. By the end of the evening Dani was quite certain that one of the Foster twins; Denis had a crush on her. He had been following her around the whole afternoon asking her questions to no end and her only escape had been helping her dad out at the grill. He had laughed as he had seen the boy's sullen face declaring Dani a heartbreaker, then he had scolded her for her hair.

* * *

Dani groaned as she crashed on the mattress which had been laid out for her on Maureen's floor. It was either that or sleeping on an uncomfortable couch in the living room. She would have chosen the couch had it not been for the fact that she would have been awoken around seven in the morning by her parents awakening.

"Remind me," Dani muttered into her pillow as she heard Maureen enter the room. "Why are you still living at home?"

"Mom needs help with the girls ever since she hurt her back," Maureen replied, annoyance lacing her voice, "besides it easier that way when I got to community college."

Dani rolled over and stared at her sister. She was sitting by the bureau, brushing out her brown curls. Maureen had always had a habit of brushing her hair a hundred times before bed, she claimed that it helped the growth. Dani knew different but she didn't point it out, let her grow bald.

"Why are you going to community college?" she asked. "I thought you wanted to go somewhere new."

Maureen's hands stilled. "Yes, but Court …"

Dani scoffed, typical. She got off of the mattress and grabbed a discarded towel from the chair before exiting the room. She did not want to hear about Court. She had managed to avoid him at her welcome home party because he hadn't been there, he'd had to work at the local garage or something. She ignored Maureen's questions of where she was going and stepped out into the humid night air.

Dani breathed in the fresh air as she gazed up at the stars, this was what she had missed about home. You couldn't see the stars in New York, but it had it's own beauty; a city that was always alive, never sleeping.

The moon illuminated the pond, casting a ghostly light across the dark water. The only sounds that could be heard was the waters gentle lapping and the quacking of a frog being carried away by the wind. Dani stripped herself of all of her clothes before taking a deep breath and diving head first into the water. A smile tugged at her lips as she resurfaced, she had missed this. She began swimming across the pond with big strokes, allowing the water to flow around her. In New York she was a member of her school's swim team and she enjoyed it greatly but nothing beat swimming in a pond like this, where there was no rules about her methods.

She was floating on her back, gazing up at the stars when it happened. She didn't register what it was at first but when the water covered her and forced her underneath the surface she realised that someone had jumped into the pond, causing the splash. She stayed underneath for as long as she could, nearly beating her own record of two and a half minutes. She broke through the surface with a gasp, gulping in the cool night air. She heard someone catch their breath behind her causing her to turn around, praying that it was one of the Foster twins, that she could handle. She couldn't handle what her eyes settled on. He had grown, he was no longer the slightly scrawny boy she remembered. From what she could see in the darkness he had filled out quite a bit, his shoulders had broaden and the muscles that had been visible on his chest were now more than visible.

"_Dani?"_

His eyes roamed over her body and although he could not see much she let herself sink deeper into the water. She groaned inwardly as his dark brown eyes sought hers out. This was just ridiculous. Before she could stop herself she opened her mouth; "What the hell are you doing here?"

His shoulders stiffened. "I could ask you the same thing."

Her eyes narrowed and she stuck her chin out. "You're not supposed to be here."

He chuckled and began to swim around her. "Really, Dani? If I remember it right, you're the one who used to swim during daytime."

She didn't have anything to say to that. It wasn't as if she'd gone swimming in hope of seeing him, it was the opposite actually. She'd figured that he would probably stop by the house to see Maureen and she would rather not be there for that hence her being at the pond.

"Shouldn't you be with Maureen?"

She knew it was the wrong thing to ask, even though she couldn't see him she could practically feel his eyes flashing with annoyance.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked, indicating that she had a bedtime.

Dani's lip curled in disgust. "Fuck off, Court." She began to swim towards the dock.

"Very mature," he muttered as he followed her.

Dani turned around, glaring at him. "Turn around," she hissed.

Court raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?"

"You heard me. Turn around."

He smirked at her words before turning around slowly, the water splashing at his movements. "Bathing suit too small?"

Dani ignored his taunt and began to climb the steps. They were slippery and she had to squint to make out where she was supposed to set her feet. She let out a yelp when she reached the last step and slipped. Her eyes closed as she prepared herself for the impact. The water by the steps was shallow and would not do much to cushion her fall, but her back didn't hit the bottom instead she fell into Court's awaiting arms.

"You OK?" he asked as he eased her into the water, keeping a firm grip on her waist.

Dani nodded. "Yeah, I've had worse." She gripped his arms as she found her footing.

Court's hand slipped lower on her waist, following the curve of her hip where it froze. They stayed silent for awhile, neither of them moving but then Court pulled away. He rubbed the back of his neck as he turned his back to her.

"We should probably go home."

Dani nodded, her eyes following the droplets of water that was dripping down his back. "Yeah."


End file.
